Excerpt:
SONIA: The first time through the figure, is on your outside edge, on your left foot. It sounds weird, but even though you have two skates with two edges each, there are eight edges in figure skating. Right and left, forward and backward, inside and outside. The math works out, I promise.
For a figure eight, you’ll change direction – from backward to forward – at the top of each circle – and that turn mark should be the only point in the circle. Like actual point. Not like place-point. More than those two points, and you’re not executing the figure correctly.
(SONIA is quiet for a long moment as she completes her first figure, returning to start.)
SONIA: The thing is you don’t do any figure just once. You have to re-trace them. But you retrace them differently. So, since I did an outside edge figure for my initial pass, for my first tracing, I’ll do an inside edge, and start on my right foot.
Read the entire play here: 003 – 2402.03 – Compulsory Figures
I learned more about skating than I ever suspected. I wish figures were still part of the picture because the endless and continually increasing jumps are boring.